To say that music is the most Christian of the arts may seem a contentious statement. Yet what is often forgotten is that all the other art forms were highly developed before the Christian age. Music was the only exception.

It is a fact that liturgical music is an integral part of the liturgy itself, not merely a means to assist or enrich worship. It is worship itself, like color to a sunset, like thought to the mind. Sacred music is not like prayer; it is prayer. Sacred music raises the mind and heart to God, and not only to our neighbor.

The powers that be made sure the Country Music Association Awards started with fireworks, red-white-and-blue streamers and star-spangled guitars. But it was Alan Jackson who stopped the show with a post-Sept. 11 anthem that had the faithful drying their eyes.

Though all the great European composers before the modern age worked at one time or another for the Catholic Church, it is arguable that Palestrinas music, more than any other composer's, captures the sense of mystery and adoration characteristic of Catholic worship.

The title track of Rachel Lampa's first CD, "Live For You", quickly went to No. I on the Christian charts and has crossed over to the pop charts, She debuted the album Aug. 1 on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and was a featured performer at World Youth Day in Rome. She spoke recently with Register correspondent Wayne Laugesen near her home in suburban Denver.

Music can play a positive role in moral development by creating sensual attractions to goodness, or it can play a destructive role by setting children on a temperamental path that leads away from virtue.

As a teenager, Liszt possessed a desire to enter the priesthood. In fact, in each "of the phases of Liszt's life, a definite pattern of withdrawal, search "for God, and reflection upon personal vocation can be seen.

Von Balthasar's was no purely theoretical preoccupation with beauty. The award in 1987 of the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Prize in Innsbruck was the rounding off of a life whose secret passion had been music.